通过诱导局域电场和电子局域化协同碱性析氢

碱性析氢反应(HER)可将间歇性可再生能源转化为可存储的清洁能源,因而备受关注.然而,水解离速度缓慢以及H中间体(*H)吸附和解吸困难限制了碱性HER的进一步发展.目前,针对碱性电解水解离缓慢问题,通常采用调整电催化剂结构降低水分解热动力学能垒,以及改变三相界面微环境加速中间产物的扩散等方法来促进水分解进行.此外,可以通过调控活性位点电子结构来优化*H的吸脱附.但是采用单一的策略很难同时促进H_(2)O的解离和*H的吸脱附,难以获得令人满意的碱性HER性能.因此,探索一种能同时促进H_(2)O的解离和*H的吸脱附协同策略对提升碱性HER的性能至关重要.本文提出了一种协同策略,通过构建高曲率二硫化钴纳米针(CoS_(2)NNs)和原子级铜(Cu)的掺杂分别实现诱导纳米尺度的局域电场和原子尺度的电子局域化,从而促进碱性HER的H_(2)O解离和*H吸脱附.首先,采用有限元法模拟和密度泛函理论计算,从理论上分别证实了纳米尺度局域电场可以加速H_(2)O解离以及原子尺度电子局域化可以促进*H吸附.受理论计算结果启发,通过一步水热法和原位硫化相结合的方法制备了高曲率的Cu掺杂CoS_(2)纳米针(Cu-CoS_(2)NNs).采用扫描电镜(SEM)、透射电镜(TEM)、X射线衍射(XRD)和四探针测试等技术进行表征,研究了Cu-CoS_(2)NNs的形貌、物相结构、化学组成和导电性.结果表明,在Cu原子引入后,Cu-CoS_(2)NNs依然保持着高曲率的纳米针结构,证明了Cu在CoS_(2)NNs中的原子分散状态.相较于低曲率的Cu掺杂CoS_(2)纳米线(Cu-CoS_(2)NWs),Cu-CoS_(2)NNs只存在形貌上的区别,二者的化学组成和比例均非常接近.同时,上述材料都具有很强的导电性,且电导率基本相同,这与有限元模拟结果一致.原位衰减全反射红外光谱和电响应测试结果表明,Cu-CoS_(2)NNs具有较好的解离H_(2)O和吸附*H的能力.在1 mol L^(-1)KOH溶液和10 mA cm^(-2)电流密度下,该催化剂的析氢过电位仅为64 mV,展现出较好的电化学析氢性能.催化剂还表现出非常好的碱性析氢稳定性,在标准氢电势(RHE)-0.18 V下,可在100 mA cm^(-2)电流密度下稳定工作达100 h.综上所述,本文通过诱导局域电场和电子局域化构建了一种协同策略,所制备的Cu-CoS_(2)NNs表现出很好的催化碱性HER性能和应用前景,为碱性HER电催化剂的理性设计提供了一定的参考.

Microwave-assisted conversion of biomass wastes to pseudocapacitive mesoporous carbon for high-performance supercapacitor

Developing an efficient approach of transforming biomass waste to functional carbon-based electrode materials applied in supercapacitor offers an important and high value-added practical application due to the abundance and considerable low price of biomass wastes.Herein,a hierarchical carbon functionalized with electrochemical-active oxygen-containing groups was fabricated by microwave treatment from the biomass waste of camellia oleifera.The obtained mesoporous carbon(MAC)owns nanosheet morphology,rich mesoporosity,large surface area(1726 m2/g)and very high oxygenic functionalities(16.2 wt%)with pseudocapacitive activity.Prepared electrode of supercapacitor and tested in 2.0 M H2 SO4,the MAC exhibits an obvious pseudocapacitive activity and achieved a superior supercapacitive performance to that of directly activated carbon(DAC-800)including high specific capacitance(367 F/g vs.298 F/g)and better rate performance(66%vs.44%).The symmetrical supercapacitor based on MAC shows a high capacity of275 F/g,large energy density of 9.55 Wh/kg(at power density of 478 W/kg)and excellent cycling stability with 99%capacitance retention after 10000 continuous charge-discharge,endowing the obtained MAC a promising functional material for electrochemical energy storage.

Tandem catalysis on adjacent active motifs of copper grain boundary for efficient CO_(2) electroreduction toward C2 products

Copper (Cu) is a special electrocatalyst for CO_(2) reduction reaction (CO_(2)RR) to multi-carbon products.Experimentally introducing grain boundaries (GBs) into Cu-based catalysts is an efficient strategy to improve the selectivity of C^(2+) products.However,it is still elusive for the C^(2+) product generation on Cu GBs due to the complex active sites.In this work,we found that the tandem catalysis pathway on adjacent active motifs of Cu GB is responsible for the enhanced activity for C^(2+)production by first principles calculations.By electronic structure analysis shows,the d-band center of GB site is close to the Fermi level than Cu(100) facet,the Cu atomic sites at grain boundary have shorter bond length and stronger bonding with*CO,which can enhance the adsorption of*CO at GB sites.Moreover,CO_(2)protonation is more favorable on the region Ⅲ motif (0.84 e V) than at Cu(100) site (1.35 e V).Meanwhile,the region Ⅱ motif also facilitate the C–C coupling (0.72 e V) compared to the Cu(100) motif (1.09 e V).Therefore,the region Ⅲ and Ⅱ motifs form a tandem catalysis pathway,which promotes the C^(2+)selectivity on Cu GBs.This work provides new insights into CO_(2)RR process.

High-temperature treatment to engineer the single-atom Pt coordination environment towards highly efficient hydrogen evolution

Development of high-performance and cost-effective catalysts for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction(HER)play crucial role in the growing hydrogen economy.Recently,the atomically dispersed metal catalysts have attracted increasing attention due to their ultimate atom utilization and great potential for highly cost-effective and high-efficiency HER electrocatalyst.Herein,we propose a hightemperature treatment strategy to furtherly improve the HER performance of atomically dispersed Ptbased catalyst.Interestingly,after appropriate high-temperature treatment on the atomically dispersed Pt0.8@CN,the Pt species on the designed N-doped porous carbon substrate with rich defect sites can be re-dispersed to single atom state with new coordination environment.The obtained Pt0.8@CN-1000 shows superior HER performance with overpotential of 13 m V at 10 m A cm^(-2)and mass activity of 11,284 m A/mgPtat-0.1 V,much higher than that of the pristine Pt0.8@CN and commercial Pt/C catalyst.The experimental and theoretical investigations indicate that the high-temperature treatment induces the restructuring of coordination environment and then the optimized Pt electronic state leads to the enhanced HER performances.This work affords new strategy and insights to develop the atomically dispersed high-efficiency catalysts.

Tuning the electron structure enables the NiZn alloy for CO_(2) electroreduction to formate

Formate is an important liquid chemical,which can be produced by electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction reaction(CO_(2) RR).Most of the metal catalysts for CO_(2) RR to formate are toxic or noble metals,such as Cd,Hg,Pb and Pd,leading to the environmental pollution or increased production costs.Herein,we develop an environmentally friendly and low-cost NiZn alloy catalyst for CO_(2) RR to formate.The X-ray diffraction(XRD),X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) and transmission electron microscopy(TEM) confirm the alloy structure of the prepared NiZn catalyst. As for a catalyst for CO_(2) RR,the NiZn alloy exhibits the FE_(HCOO)^(-)(Faraday efficiency of HCOO^(-)) of 36±0.7% at-0.9 V vs.RHE in 0.1 M KHCO_(3), and remarkable stability for 40,000 s at-0.8,-0.9,-1.0 and-1.1 V vs.RHE,respectively.Theoretical calculation results indicate that the NiZn alloy exhibits the middle valence electron structure between the Zn and Ni metal,resulting in the favorable pathway for HCOOH formation but unfavorable for the hydrogen evolution reaction and CO production.The Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy results verify the modulated valence electron structure for NiZn alloy as compared to Ni and Zn,consistent with the theoretical calculation results.This work provides new insights into design of alloy catalysts for CO_(2) RR to formate.

High-temperature deoxygenation-created highly porous graphitic carbon nanosheets for ultrahigh-rate supercapacitive energy storage

Developing carbon-based supercapacitors with high rate capability is of great importance to meet the emerging demands for devices that requires high energy density as well as high power density.However,it is hard to fabricate a nanocarbon with high electro-active surface area meanwhile maintaining superior conductivity to ensure the high rate capability since excellent conductivity is usually realized by high temperature graphitization,which would lead to the structural collapse and sintering resulting in low surface area.Herein,we reported a highly porous graphitic carbon nanosheet with an unprecedented rate capability of 98%of its initial capacitance from 0.5 to 50 A/g for ultrahigh-rate supercapacitive energy storage.These hierarchical mesoporous carbon nanosheets(HMCN)were fabricated by a template induced catalytic graphitization approach,in which sheet-like Mg(OH)_(2) was employed as catalytic template in situ catalytically polymerizing of catechol and formaldehyde and catalytically graphitizing of the formed carbon skeleton.Upon the co-effect of template(avoiding the sintering)and the deoxygenation(creating the pores)during the high temperature graphitization process,the obtained HMCN material possesses nanosheet morphology with highly porous graphitic microstructure rich in mesoporosity,large in surface area(2316 m^(2)/g),large in pore volume(3.58 cm^(3)/g)and excellent in conductivity(109.8 S/cm).In 1.0 M TEABF_(4)/AN,HMCN exhibits superior supercapacitive performance including large energy density of 52.2 Wh/kg at high power density of 118 k W/kg,long-cycling stability and excellent rate capability,making HMCN a promising electrode material for supercapacitor devices.

Hydrogen-bond locked purine chromophores with high photostability for lipid droplets imaging in cells and tissues

Recently, hydrogen-bonding has attracted extensive attention in the design of chromophores. Here, a new class of hydrogen-bond locked purine chromophores(HOPs) were reported by introducing a hydroxyphenyl group into the C(6) position of purine. The intramolecular hydrogen bond plays a dominant role to light up these probes. As a bonus, HOPs show high photostability. Moreover, HOPs exhibit remarkable capability for the specific lipid droplets imaging in living cells with excellent biocompatibility and are also potential for diagnosing fatty liver diseases. These results bring important new insights into the photophysics of the purine-based chromophores and provide a new scaffold with high photostability for bioimaging.

Review of self-referenced measurement algorithms： Bridging lateral shearing interferometry and multi-probe error separation

With the development of new materials and ultra-precision processing technology, the sizes of mea- sured objects increase, and the requirements for machining accuracy and surface quality become more exacting. The traditional measurement method based on reference datum is inadequate for measuring a high-precision object when the quality of the reference datum is approximately within the same order as that of the object. Self-referenced measurement techniques provide an effective means when the direct reference-based method cannot satisfy the required measurement or calibration accuracy. This paper discusses the reconstruction algorithms for self-referenced measurement and connects lateral shearing interferometry and multi-probe error separation. In lateral shearing interferometry, the reconstruction algorithms are generally categorized into modal or zonal methods. The multi-probe error separation techniques for straightness measurement are broadly divided into two-point and three-point methods. The common features of the lateral sheafing interferometry method and the multi-probe error separation method are identified. We conclude that the reconstruction principle in lateral shearing interferometry is similar to the two-point method in error separation on the condition that no yaw error exists. This similarity may provide a basis or inspiration for the development of both classes of methods.